Happy Easter

Easter

This is the longest holiday of the year.  The Danish Easter begins on Thursday and lasts until Monday.  It isn’t as quiet as when I was here on my first mission.  Back then, as I recall, everything except the apotek closed Thursday, Friday, Saturday afternoon, Sunday and Monday.  They picked up the USA supermarket idea back in the 1950s with the establishment of IRMAs.  They don’t like anything that is American. However, IRMA has finally, a month ago, evolved to the stage of staying open from 9 to 21 every day including holidays.  They may have picked that up from us, with a little help from the Middle-eastern immigrants who own many of the food stores here.  The competition with the 7 - 11 markets on every other corner and in every commuter train station in the land might also have had some influence.

We have celebrated Easter this week in the Temple.  As I mentioned last week, the Saints from Iceland came on their annual Temple trip.  We had six baptismal sessions where we emphasized Easter and the Resurrection as it applies to the service the youth were doing in their Temple sessions.  There were thirteen youth and seven leaders.  They stayed in the Guest Home.  Normally those under eighteen are not allowed there but we make exceptions for the Saints from Iceland because it is so expensive for them to travel to Denmark.  One of the adult visitors was a young man who has been a member of the Church for one year.  He was able to do is own work and also his father’s.

Today we attended our regular meetings in the morning.  In the afternoon we went to the Glyptotet Museum to attend an Easter Concert by the Musica Ficta, a small well-known choral group of three women and five men who sang some ancient Christian music relative to Easter.  Amy Dethman Vestbø is a member of the group.  (Check out the short video.  Sorry, my battery went dead a couple of minutes into the program.  It was a very enjoyable concert.  The voices blended perfectly.  This was their fifth concert this week.

After the concert we were invited to Anne and Benjamin Feltsens for dinner together with the sister missionaries.  They served a wonderful Lasagna with carrots, squash, cauliflower, chicken and lots of cheese.  Dessert was a very rich chocolate cake.  It was a wonderful afternoon of missionary talk.  Benjamin is the Ward Mission Leader and served his mission in Germany.  Anne served her mission in Birmingham, England.  Sister Ronstrøm from Sweden is being released from her mission on the nineteenth of April so there were many missionary experiences to talk about.  It was a very enjoyable afternoon.

This is the last week before the Temple closes for repairs.  We are looking forward to visits from the family.

We love you,

Mom and Dad

Ældste og Søster Larsen